Hundreds of immigrant bus drivers have submitted a petition to New Zealand’s parliament demanding the English standard required to get residency be lowered.
About 1,000 drivers – 20% of the workforce – are on temporary visas granted in 2022 and 2023 to fill a “labour shortage”, and petitioners told parliament on Tuesday they never would have migrated if they had known they needed to pass an English test to be able to stay.
The drivers, including many from India, Fiji and the Philippines, said the IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent needed to qualify for a skilled residence visa is higher than the level required by the University of Auckland for international students, and said it should be dropped to 5.5.
Auckland bus driver Edvin Pritesh Prisad told RNZ said the test was too difficult, and was devastating bus driver families across New Zealand.
“It’s a university level exam and we are just drivers. If we have that level of English, then why are we driving buses in Auckland?” he said.
But Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said the standard had been the same for years and the government had no plans to lower it, The Post reported.
“There’s plenty of time for them to be able to improve their English language. It’s what we expect from all migrants,” she said, adding that 400 drivers had already met the requirements.
The drivers were supported by Labour immigration spokesman Phil Twyford, who called the test “discriminatory”, and Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March.
“They came here, they uprooted their families, they often sold businesses, they moved here in the hope of of making a new life,” Mr Twyford said.
“It is unfair on them and it’s quite impractical because if these drivers are forced to go home, then we’ll be facing another shortage in both our trucking and public transport industries.”
The petition comes after hundreds of Indian truck drivers who had their heavy vehicle permits cancelled during a crackdown on fraudulent activity were given a reprieve by the New Zealand Transport Agency and allowed to re-sit their tests.
Out of the 459 who had their licences revoked due to the use of false or altered documentation while converting from UAE, Australian or Canadian permits, 335 were reclassified as “low risk” after protesting at a Sikh temple in Auckland and claiming innocence.
Header image: Mr Twyford and Mr March with some of the petitioning drivers (Facebook).
